Printed Propaganda. In their desire to make the Bible the primary medium of spiritual understanding and experience, Protestant reformers presented a profound challenge to visual arts and to the livelihood that many artists drew from ecclesiastical commissions. At the same time, reformers were extremely adept at using new print technologies to popularize their ideas and win adherents to their cause. Cheaply produced woodcuts and broadsheets allowed Reformers to disseminate evangelical theology to a marginally literate populace. In Germany, Martin Luther worked directly with artists sympathetic to Reformed theology, such as Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), to create didactic prints that explained theology through text and image. One popular format presented contrasting images of Catholic and Protestant practices and beliefs, usually with Catholic practices on the left (or sinister side) and Protestant on the right.

Stock Images. Catholic polemicists quickly took up the counteroffensive, using...